Parties in Dot-XXX Lawsuit in Settlement Talks

LOS ANGELES—The parties in Manwin v ICM Registry filed a joint stipulation with the court today that signals their intent to reach a settlement in the antitrust lawsuit filed by Manwin and co-plaintiff Digital Playground on Nov. 16, 2011.

In response to separate motions to dismiss filed in January by defendants ICM Registry and ICANN, the plaintiffs stated today that they have agreed in writing to amend their complaint in response to the defendants’ motions by Feb. 17, and have therefore asked the court to take the motions off the calendar.

“In addition,” stated today’s filing, “in recent days, Plaintiffs and ICM have engaged in discussions aimed at resolving the disputes that are the subject of this litigation. The parties believe that additional time would potentially allow the parties to resolve all or some portion of their disputes. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate that Defendants shall have 60 days from the filing of the amended Complaint to file an answer, motion or other response thereto.

"By continuing the response date for the amended Complaint for 60 days,” the filing continued, “the parties will be able to focus their energies on these efforts, and avoid unnecessarily expending the parties' and the Court's resources.” The parties therefore agree that Defendants shall have until April 17, 2012 to file a motion, answer or other response to the amended Complaint to be filed on or before February 17, 2012.”

The jointly filed stipulation can be accessed here.